Teenage Troubles (Prequel for Teenage Baby)

Chapter 15 | The captors

Chapter 15 | The captors

It only took about one year to have Dominic tangled in Cara's heartstrings as she'd planned. One year filled with pretty words that concealed ugly truths and fleeting touches that veiled desires for control. Endless talks about a convoluted future when all she wanted was his wealth.

And minorly, him too. He'd be useful.

Today, the final stage would start. It was going to be a tough day for Dominic's sanity and Cara wanted to make sure it went as horribly as possible. She'd feel bad for him, only she believed her greater purpose was more important than one person. Or two. It wasn't like she was kicking them out in the end anyway.

Cara had been sitting on her bed, musing over her future, her family, when someone knocked on the door. She knew who it was. She'd told Dominic to come over. A surprise awaited him. Pleasant for her, unpleasant for him.

Dominic's expression faltered as soon as he stepped into her bedroom. He frowned and eyed her hair. It'd been chopped off, now hanging above her shoulders.

"Why did you cut your hair?"

Cara raised a nonchalant shoulder. "Because I wanted to."

"I liked it long."

"It wasn't long, it was average."

As a person with anger issues, Dominic would've liked a warning before she'd do that. When familiar things suddenly spun around, he'd suffer for a while to adapt. Something about the length of her hair had been comforting. He didn't like the sudden change.

Dominic felt something in his chest. Anger. Ever since he'd become closer to her, he'd been relatively calm. "You promised you wouldn't cut it."

"So? I broke the promise. My hair, my business."

Dominic noticed her attitude was a bit different today. Closer to how it'd been when they'd first met. Sharper. His fingers curled slightly. "Why are you acting like that?"

"Because you're freaking out over something stupid. Get over it. My hair will grow again."

Now she was pissing him off. He said, teeth gritted, "At least tell me before. You know how I am. It makes me angry." His voice loudened, slowly but gradually. "How hard is it to actually tell me before you do stupid shit—"

Dominic couldn't even continue before he felt Cara's hands grip his arms and pull him over onto the bed, strong and forcefully. Sitting at the edge of the bed whilst she stood between his knees, she towered above him, short blonde hair slipping forwards.

"My hair will grow again. Understand? It won't stay short forever. Get that in your head." She leant forward, nose to nose with Dominic, green eyes wide and furious. "Stop getting angry at stupid things. That's not good for your health."

She said the last sentence like she cared about him. Her voice had softened in time to fool him. Dominic was still frowning, but he said nothing.

When he opened his mouth, she cut him off by hopping onto the bed, leaning against the headboard, then pulling him towards her. Dominic wordlessly let her maneuver him. He didn't realize it, but she did it in more than one sense.

Dominic looked up at her. "Why did you just flip out on me?"

In reality, Cara cut her hair for the sole purpose of making him angry. Disorienting him. Anything to mess him up. Not that she'd admit that. She noticed the skepticism in his eyes and quickly reached a hand out, stroking his cheek.

"I'm sorry, I just want you to learn to control your anger. I thought this would help." Cara stared straight into his eyes, deceitfully soft. "I didn't think you'd hate it."